wendell



(No Model.) 3 Sheets-Sheet 2.

F. 0. WEN DELL.

IRONING MAGHINE.

INVENTOR:

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THE NATIONAL umocmmma coMPAm.

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3 Sheets-Sheet 3.

(No Model.)

P. 0. 'WENDELL.

IRONING MACHINE.

Patented Apr. 24, 1894.

m wt INVENTOR: @Mf. kkmzaee By his At/omeys,

WITNESSES:

NATIONAL LIIHOGRAPHING COMPANY,

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NITED STATES PATENT FFICEQ IRONING-MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 518,872, dated April24, 1894.

Application filed. J'annary 9,1890. Renewed October 29,1892. Againrenewed August 23,1893, and again renewed March 22,1894. Serial No.504,724. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, FREDERICK O. WEN- DELL, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing in Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of NewYork, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inIroning-Machines, of

which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to provide a machine for rapidly ironingor smoothing towels, napkins and other similar laundry surface thereof.The towels or other goods are seized by the rollers in succession, sothat each separate towel is being fed along by one or simultaneously bytwo or more rollers. The rollers are covered with cloth or any softmaterialwhich will enable them to grasp the towels and propel them overthe table.

In order to make the machine as compact as possible, and at the sametime to secure an extended heated surface for drying and smoothing thetowels, I employ two or more tables of suitable length arranged onebeneath the other, and I provide means for transferring the towels whichreach the end of one table onto the end of the next table, the rollerson which are arranged to carry the towels across in the oppositedirection, so that they travel back and forth over the successivetables.

I provide means for adjusting simultaneously the pressure with which theseveral rollers bear upon the table or tables, and also for separatingthe rollers from the tables when the machine is not in use so .that therollers shall not be overheated by contact with the hot tables.

The accompanying drawings illustrate a machine embodying my invention.

Figure 1 is a vertical longitudinal section of the machine, a fragmentthereof being shown in side elevation. Fig. 2 is an elevation of thereceiving or entering end of the machine, the right-hand portion of thefigure being in vertical section in a plane coincident with the axes ofthe smoothing rollers. Fig. 3 is a fragmentary planof the receiving endof the lower table. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary side elevation of one end ofthe three tables and their connecting frame. Fig. P 1s a fragmentaryhorizontal section of the frame. Fig. 4 is an elevation of one of theslideways. Fig. 5 is a fragmentary side elevation of the machine,showing the operating lever, and Fig. 6 is a fragmentary section of amodification.

Referring to'the drawings, let A, A A designate heated tables havingsmooth upper surfaces, and heatedeither by being made hollow andadmitting steam to them from a pipe at, as shown, or in any othersuitable manner. These tables are suitably supported by the side-framesB B of the machine. A succession of rollers O C O is arranged over theseveral tables, each roller having bearings in sliding blocks suitablyguided in the side-framesB Band pressed down by the springs o c adjustedby screws bb to regulate their tension. These rollers are all revolvedin the direction of the arrows marked adjacent to them in Fig.1, andpreferably all at the same surface speed by means of any suitablegearing. The particular kind of gearing shown is worm-gearing, each ofthe rollers having a worm-wheel upon the shaft projecting beyond theside-frame, and a worm d on a shaft D being arranged to mesh with thiswheel (as best seen in Fig. 2). .The three shafts D D D are gearedtogether by cogs e e, and one of the shafts carries fast and loosepulleys f f by which it may be driven by a belt from any suitable sourceof power. Other known methods of gearing, however, may be employed toimpart simultaneous rotation to these rollers.

A basket, E, is preferably provided at the receiving end of the machineto hold the towels or other laundry work to be operated upon. Theoperator stands at this end of the machine and feeds the towels oneafter another smoothly upon a feed-board g, presenting them to theactionof the first roller 0, which feeds them in and pushes them on to thesecond roller 0, which in turn engages them and propels them to thethird roller 0 and so on, whereby they are moved continuously over thesmooth surface of the upper heated table A, being pressed firmly againstit by each of the successive rollers, and there by simultaneously dried,smoothed and polished. When the towels reach the end of this table Athey are received upon a cylinder F of a diameter approximately equal tothe distance between the upper surfaces of the first and the secondtable. Pressed against this cylinder F is a hood G by which the towel inpassing around is held in contact with the cylinder F and driventhereby, being finally delivered upon the end of the second table A andpushed along thereon by the action of the cylinder F until engaged bythe first roller 0, after which the operation is repeated except thatthe opposite side of the towel is presented to the polishing action ofthe table. The towels are carried along on this second table in the samemanner as the first until they reach the opposite end thereof, whereuponthey are transferred to the third table, this transfer being effected bythe cylinder H and a series of endless tapes I I at intervals arrangedto hold the towels firmly against this cylinder as it revolves. Thesetapes are carried over the end roller 0' of the series of rollers onthis table, and over a series of pulleys J J on a shaft J at the end ofthe third table. The outer or ascending portion of the tapes is carriedover rollers 72. to keep it out of contact with the cylinder H. The endof the third table is notched, as shown at t' z' in Fig. 3 in order toreceive the tapes as they descend, while the spaces between thesenotches serve to receive the advancing edge of the towel which is stillheld by the tapes, and guide it properly onto the upper surface of thetable. The towels are carried along the third table in the same manneras over the others, being further dried, smoothed and polished thereon,and are finally delivered therefrom by the terminal rollers 0 onto areceiving table or board K, Fig. 1. An operator should be stationed atthis table to receive the towels and spread them in a uniform pile,count them, and remove them from the machine. The cylinders F and H aredriven preferably by cog-gearing from one of the adjacentrollers O 0',preferably from the roller just above. Thus the cylinder II has fixedupon its shaft a cog-wheel j which is'driven by a cog-wheel j fixed onthe shaft of the roller G just above it. Preferably the rollers O, O, Oare made of wood in two parts fastened together by screws, and theirshafts are made square where the rollers are fas' tened on them. Therollers are covered with cotton or woolen cloth, flannel, chamois, orany other yielding material presenting a sufficiently frictionalsurface.

The tables A A A are heated by steam admitted at one end, as for exampleby the pipe or shown in Fig. 1, and are arranged on a slight incline,sloping downwardly from this end toward their other ends in order todrain oif the water of condensation,fwhich escapes through a pipe m thebranches of which lead from the under side of the tables at their lowerends.

The three tables A A A are movable vertically relativelyto thesupporting side-frames 13 B, so that by moving them up or down therollers O, G, 0 may be lifted more or less and their springs c ccompressed to greater or less tension, so that thereby the pressure ofall the rollers may be varied simultaneously in order to adapt themachine for different kinds of work. The tables are also movable to aposition sufficiently below the lowermost position to which the rollersare movable as to bring them entirely beneath and out of contact withthe rollers in order that when the supply of goods to be laundered runsshort, or whenever the machine is disused for a short time, the tablesmay be dropped out of contact with the rollers and the burning oroverheating of the rollers be thereby prevented. I accomplish both theseresults preferably by means of one mechanism. The three tables areconnected together at their opposite ends by means of uprights L L, oneof which is shown in Fig. 4, these uprights being provided with verticalslides (or projections),n n engaging corresponding vertical slide-wayson the plates L L fastened to the side-frames B B. By means of thisarrangement the three tables are connected together and are movedsimultaneously up and down, being guided in their vertical movement bythe guide-ways, and their displacement both in longitudinal andtransverse directions is prevented. The bottom ends of the uprights L L,or of blocks connected to them, or to the lower table, rest uponeccentrics or other shaped cams M M carried on cross shafts M M havingbearings at or near their opposite ends in the sideframes 13 B. Theseshafts are caused to move simultaneously by being provided withcrankarms a connected together by parallel bars M, as shown in Figs. 1,and 2. On the outer end of one of these shafts is fixed a handlever Narranged to be within convenient reach of the operator. This leverstands normally in the position shown in dotted lines in Fig. 1, so thatthe tables are held by the cams M M at such height that the rollers C,C, C bear against them with moderate pressure. By swinging the levertoward the left in Fig. 1, the tables will be raised still higher andthe pressure of the rollers increased. By swinging it toward the rightin Fig. 1, the tables will belowered, and when lowered to a certainpoint until the bearing blocks of the shafts of the rollers rest on thesolid bottoms o 0 of their slide-ways so that the rollers can descend nofarther, the continued descending movement of the tables carries themout of contact with the rollers. Thelever N may be held in either ofitsseveral positions by being constructed in the manner shown in Fig. 5,with a pawl 19 operated by a grip-1e verp' and entering one or anotherof a series of notches in a sector-piece '1", which is fastened againstthe exterior of the frame 13.

The hood G by which the towels are held in contact with the cylinder Fis fastened on a pivoted rod 3 and is pressed against the cylinder bythe tension of a weight or spring applied to an arm 3' fastened on thisrod. In case a towel should become misplaced or jammed between thecylinder and hood or adjacent thereto, the 'hood may be thrown outwardlyto afford access to the roller. By so doing the weight is carried overthe axis of the rod 8 so that it acts to hold the hood down. 7 It maysometimes be desirable to use only the upper table of the machine, inwhich case the hood will be thus turned down while the machine is beingso used, and the towels will be delivered from the cylinder F anddropped therefrom onto the receiving table K.

In case a towel should run crooked and become wedged or jammed at anyother part of the tables it may readily be reached through the openingsin the side-frames and pulled out laterally. Or in case a towel shouldfail to pass properly around the cylinder H it may be drawn out betweenthe tapes I I.

The rollers O, O, C may be removed separately from the machine inca'sethey require to be repaired by first detaching from the sideframesthe vertical strips or pieces t t which confine the bearings of theroller, and then displacing the roller sidewise into the middle of theopening or space between two rollers, whereupon it may be drawn outendwise through the corresponding opening in one of the side-frames.

It must not be inferred from the particularity of detail with which Ihave illustrated and described my improved machine that my invention isessentiallylimitedto the precise construction shown, since in fact thenovel features of my invention may be otherwise availed of.

If desired,the article being smoothed may be transferred from an uppertable to the next lower one by means of a carved guide extending fromthe upper table downward toward the lower one. Such a construction isshown in Fig. 6, wherein the table A is shown as provided with a guide Hat its end, over the surface of which a belt I is run in a mannersimilar to the tapes I I seen in Figs. 1 and 2. A towel fed along anupper table, would,

in this construction, be carried around the guide H and be deliveredonto the next lower table.

I claim as my invention the following-defined novel features andcombinations, substantially as hereinbefore specified, namely:

1. The combination of two elongated flat tables arranged one above theother, a succession of rollers over the upper table and means forrevolving them to propel the goods to be smoothed over the table in onedirection, a similar succession of rollers over the second table andmeans for revolving them in the opposite direction, mechanismintervening between the delivery end of one table and the receiving endof the other table for transferring thegoods from one table to theother, and separate uprights and frames supporting said tables and saidrollers constructed to permit their relative movement.

2. The combination of two tables arranged one above the other, asuccession of rollers over the upper table and means for revolving themto propel the goods to be smoothed over the table in one direction, asimilar succession of rollers over the second table and means forrevolving them in the opposite direction, a roller or cylinder arrangedto receive the goods at the delivery end of the upper table and transferthem to the receiving end of the lower table, and means for holding thegoods against the surface of said cylinder during their transfer fromone table to the other.

7 3. The combination of two tables arranged one above the other, asuccession of rollers over the upper table and means for revolving themto propel the goods to be smoothed over the delivery end of the uppertable and trans,-

for them to the receiving end of the lower table, and a hood held firmlyclose against said cylinder to retain the goods in contact therewithduring their transfer and movable away therefrom to get access to thesurface of the cylinder. V

4. The combination of three tables arranged one above another asuccession of rollers over each table and means for driving them topropelthe goods to be smoothed in one direction over the first table inthe opposite direction over the second table and again in the originaldirection over the third table, means for transferring the goods fromthe delivery end of the first table to the receiving end of the secondand means for transferring them from the'delivery end of the secondtable to the receiving end of the third table, the latter meansconsisting of a cylinder intervening between the upper surfaces of thesecond and third tables, and a succession of tapes passing partly aroundsaid cylinder for holding the goods against the cylinder during theirpassage between the tables.

5. The combination of supporting side frames, a succession of rollersextending between said frames and having their journals guided thereby,a long flat table arranged beneath said rollersand movable up and downrelatively to the side-frames, vertical tracks on the latter, provisionson the table engaging and traveling on said tracks, and mechanical meansfor so raising or lowering the table at will constructed tosimultaneously and uniformly move both ends thereof at the oneoperation.

In witness whereof I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of twosubscribing witnesses;

FREDERICK O. WENDELL.

Witnesses:

GEORGE H. FRASER, J NO. E. GAVIN.

